Jordan Spieth Now #1 in the World, Ushering in a New Age for Golf

Did you watch the PGA Championship? Were you not entertained? There were spectacular performances all over the course and up and down the leaderboard. Hell, Brooks Koepka had two bogeys, six birdies, and an eagle in his final round, was six-under and finished tied for fifth and we saw about three of his shots. Brandt Snedeker drained a 90-foot putt on the 18th hole to save par at 10-under and it’s the only time we saw him during live coverage. The guys at the top were so dominant that CBS barely chose to show anyone outside of the top five.

We did get to see guys like Phil Mickelson make nine birdies in a single round, Rory McIlroy hit a beautiful shot out of a pond, Matt Jones hit out of a hospitality tent while leading. John Daly threw his club into Lake Michigan, Bubba Watson argued with a rules official about ants and then hit a 400-yard drive, and Jordan Spieth charged up the leaderboard after a stellar back-nine during his third round setting up a great Sunday pairing with eventual winner Jason Day. Then, after winning, Day gave us a priceless moment with his son Dash.

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As I wrote back in April, Jordan Spieth can be the new face of American golf and it’s time the media embraces him and moves on from the aging Eldrick Woods. Woods hasn’t been relevant since 2013 when he won five tournaments and was player of the year. He’s missed the cut in his last three majors and we’ve been forced to watch too much of him during his rounds. While Tiger WAS the face of golf for so long, and he put golf on the map for many in this country, he is no longer that same golfer and it’s time we, the media, come to grips with this and move on. We need to stop parading Tiger up in front of the media while he’s the 278th ranked player – now 286th. It doesn’t benefit him and it doesn’t benefit us, other than the occasional chuckle. Sure we should still see cuts to shots of Tiger hitting out of trees or draining long putts, but full round coverage should be a no-no.

Tiger has been telling us the same thing all year, “I feel like I’m getting better,” even when on the course it looks like he’s still the Tiger we’ve seen all year. After winning for so long, and putting in so many hours on the range and the course over the span of his career, Tiger, while working on his swing, seems to be just going through the motions hoping that one day it’ll click and he’ll collect another win.

Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth just took over the number one ranking in the world as a 22-year-old and became the second youngest player behind Tiger to ever hold that ranking. Spieth claimed that spot from another star, Rory McIlroy, who is arguably the most talented player in the field. Here’s another crazy stat, the total score under par for all four majors this year is 58-under, Spieth combined to shoot 54-under par. In 2000, when Tiger Woods won The Open Championship and PGA Championship, he finished all four majors a combined 53-under par. Tiger’s 19-under at the PGA Championship was the lowest four-round total in 156 years of major tournament golf, until this weekend when Jason Day claimed his first major by shooting 20-under. Spieth is also just the fourth golfer to finish in the top five in all four majors in a single season, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Rickie Fowler.

What we are seeing on the course from Jordan Spieth is greatness, and we need to embrace it. We need to move on from the old guard to the new one that contains guys named Spieth, McIlroy, Day, Fowler, and even Dustin Johnson, who had a horrible start to his final round at the PGA but fought back and finished 12-under. We need to understand that what we are witnessing is special. America now has five players ranked in the top 10 in the world and 11 ranked in the top 20.

Like Spieth said he told Day after his round was over, “I told him there was nothing I could do,” and at this point, if you aren’t enjoying golf without Tiger at the top, you’ll never enjoy golf.

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CBS’ final round coverage saw a 36% increase, up to a household rating/share of 6.0/13 from 4.4/10 in 2014 when Rory McIlroy took home the Wanamaker Trophy. The coverage peaked at 9.2/17.

Yeah, golf wins again.